Malia Ewart, a very talented 18 year old from Redding, CA has begun designing a line of Frontier Girls clipart for use by our members. This line of clipart will be available in the members only section of the Frontier Girls website beginning in March. Members will be allowed to download the clipart free of charge for use in Frontier Girls projects such as scrapbooking, newsletters, and websites. Each month we will add a few more pieces and gradually build our library of images.

I was recently introduced to a new website called Pinterest. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it is like a giant online bulletin board of fun projects and activities. You start your own board and then “pin” links to websites that interest you. I recently started a Pinterest Account for Frontier Girls projects and plan to have boards for each of the Areas of Discovery as well as boards for topics like Patriotism, Troop Resources, Fundraising, and SWAPS. On each board will be pictures of projects that you might wish to use in your Frontier Girls journey. When you click on them, you will be taken to the website that has instructions for the project. Please remember that these sites are NOT part of Frontier Girls and we cannot guarantee their content, so please surf responsibly. As our troops and members send me great websites, I will make sure to pin these to my boards as well. If you have a Pinterest board of your own that relates to Frontier Girls, please let me know so that I can follow it and repin your ideas to the main Frontier Girls boards. To visit the Frontier Girls Pinterest Boards go to :

With summer here, many troops are planning campouts, so I thought I would share some of my favorite camp recipes. If you have recipes you would like to share as well, please comment on this post or post them to the Leader’s Yahoogroup or our Facebook site. Thanks!

A safety note: When cooking with foil packets, steam can build up inside the packet. Make sure an adult removes the packet from the grill (carefully so that the packet does not break and spill hot liquid or food on someone) using tongs or oven mitts. Poke holes in the foil with a fork to allow steam to escape and let stand for 5 minutes. Open the packet slowly, keeping your hands and face away from the opening to avoid any excess steam that escapes.

Biscuit on a Stick – Wrap biscuit dough around a stick or marshmallow skewer and roast over the fire. Do make layer the dough too thick, or you will burn it on the outside and the inside will still be raw. For a special treat roll the finished biscuits in butter and cinnamon with sugar. You can make “garlic bread” by rolling the biscuit in butter and sprinkling it with garlic powder or garlic salt.

Pudding Catch –Put instant pudding and milk into ziplock bags, following the directions on the box for quantity. Double bag to ensure your pudding does not leak. Then play catch with a friend for about 5 minutes to set the pudding. When it is all mixed, cut a corner off the bag, squeeze it out and eat!

Smores – Top a graham cracker square with ½ of a chocolate bar. Roast a marshmallow over the fire, and place it on top of the chocolate. Put another graham cracker square on top to create a sandwich. If you don’t have a wood fire, or roasting sticks, you can grill your smore by placing a marshmallow and chocolate between two graham cracker halves and then wrapping it loosely in foil. Do not wrap it too tight as you want the air to circulate. Place it on a medium/hot grill for 4-5 minutes or until the marshmallow has melted.

Banana Boats – On a large sheet of foil place a banana that has been slit lengthwise. Inside, place marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Wrap securely with the foil, leaving room for air circulation and place on the grill or medium coals for 10- 15 minutes or until the chocolate and marshmallows have melted.

Sizzling Apples – Roast an apple over the fire until the skin splits and the flesh sizzles. Have an adult help carefully peel away the skin and then roll the apple in cinnamon and sugar.

Chili in a Bag – You will need an individual sized bag of Frito Corn Chips for each person. Heat your chili in a pot over the fire or on the stove. Spoon chili directly into the bags of corn chips and serve. Be careful not to get your chili too hot or you will not be able to hold onto your bags.

Foil Packets – In a large sheet of foil, combine the meat of your choice (precooked), chopped vegetables, seasoning, and a pat of butter. Wrap your packet securely, but make sure to leave room for air to circulate. Place your packet on the grill or over medium coals until heated through, about 25-45 minutes.. This recipe works great with the kids since each person gets to put in only the items they like. Many troops have each girl bring their own meat and then one vegetable to share.

Taco Packet – On a large sheet of foil, place 1 flour tortilla. Top it with a little meat, cheese and salsa. Bring up the foil on the sides and double fold the top and ends, leaving room for air to circulate. Place it on the grill or over medium coals until heated through. Check after 15 minutes. Open and top with lettuce, sour cream, or other toppings.

Dogs and Beans Packet – On a large sheet of foil place ½ cup of baked beans and one sliced hotdog. Top with BBQ sauce if you like. Wrap your packet securely, leaving room for air circulation and place on the grill or medium coals until heated through for about 15-30 minutes. Open and top with cheese if you wish, or serve with tortilla chips.

Hobo Soup – Have each girl bring one can of soup to the campout. It doesn’t matter what kind (just no clam chowder please!). Cook all the soup together in a large pot and serve. This recipe never turns out the same twice, but always somehow turns up tasting quite good.

Pigs in a Blanket – Place a hotdog on a long stick or marshmallow skewer. Wrap it securely with biscuit dough and roast over the fire until the dough is cooked through.

French Toast – Spray the inside of a pie iron with non-stick cooking spray. Dip a piece of toast in a mixture of egg, milk, a little cinnamon, and sugar. Place it in the pie iron and roast over the fire until done.

Pie Iron Sandwich – Butter two slices of bread and place buttered side down on each side of the pie iron. Fill with your favorite sandwich meat, cheese and veggies such as sliced onions or peppers. Close and cook over the fire.

Certain badges are much more fun to do with friends, than by yourself at home. The Vegetable Badge is just such a badge. At our last meeting we learned about a variety of vegetables, what vitamins and minerals they contained, and why they were good for us. To do this, I printed out cards with pictures of vegetables in one pile, the names of the vitamins and minerals they were known for in another, and in the last pile I placed pictures of the body parts they helped. After showing the girls how the cards matched up, we shuffeld the cards and handed them out. On the word “Go”, they had to run around the room and find their partners. For example, if you were holding the carrot card, you would have to find the girls holding the vitamin A card and the eye card. We did this several times, reshuffling each time, and kept trying to improve our time.

For our craft, we decided to make potato people. Each girl received a potato, a small cup of toothpicks,a small cup of straight pins, a plasitc knife and a pair of scissors. A variety of vegetable were placed in the center of each table including items such as napa cabbage (which became angel wings and bride dresses), radishes (which became hats, eyes and noses), kale (for hair and eye lashes), red peppers (lips), carrot slices (eyes and arms), and much more.

I was a little concerned about our little ones and all the sharp objects, but they did great and didn’t even need much help. One pin prick the entire afternoon. This was a great project for multiple age troops as the high schoolers had just as much fun as the 5 year olds.

Next meeting it is off to the nursery for a field trip and a chance to plant our own vegetables to take home.

Because my troop only meets twice a month, we are usually working on several badges at a time. This fall we chose Knots, Etiquette, and Hawaii. So, how to you integrate what seems to be three entirely different subjects into the same meeting? You throw a Luau!

The girls learned a hula dance and a song in Hawaiian for the entertainment. We used knots that we learned to make our own grass skirts and leis, and learned all about party etiquette and table manners before inviting all family members to our luau. At the luau, we also educated parents and siblings on Hawaiin etiquette such as never taking off a lei in front of the person who gave it to you (it is rude.)

We used our potluck luau as the start to our Investiture/Rededication Ceremony last month and everyone had a marvelous time. The girls loved getting up on stage in their grass skirts to hula for their parents. (We kept the patriotic theme of Frontier Girls by having the girls wear the skirts over their uniform and used red, white, and blue flower leis.)

By working on three badges at one time, the girls are less likely to get bored with a single subject and you can use one project to fulfill a variety of badge requirements.

Just because school is out, and formal troop meetings may be on hold for the summer, doesn’t mean that you can’t offer some fun opportunities for your girls. Here are few ideas for low cost summer activities to keep your troop active. (Make sure to fill out permission slips and follow all safety policies.)

1. Swim parties – Just make sure to have a certified life guard on duty and permission slips.

3. Fire building day: Go to a local campground and teach your girls how to build, tend and extinguish a fire. While the fire is going, do a little outdoor cooking and make lunch over the fire. Make sure to go over all fire safety
rules before lighting the fire. Teach the girls different fire building methods as well as how to make fire starters. (Contact us if you need instructions. An outdoor training section of the handbook is underway.)

4. Dance Day: Learn a variety of dances such as the hula, waltz, ballet, tap, swing, or square dances.

5. Fund raisers: Summer is the perfect time for car washes, bake sales (if it is not too hot), snow cones sales, etc. Cotton Candy and snow cones sold at local parades or events can bring in quite a bit of money and the equipment is usually fairly cheap to rent. We even have a recipe for snow cone syrup to save you money.

6. Hiking. Have a nature scavenger hunt, learn about animal tracks, tree and shrub identification, or even use a hike as a service project and collect trash while you walk.

7. Go fishing. If there are streams, lakes, ponds, etc. in your area, find someone knowledgable in fishing to teach the girls.

8. Water fun day. Have everyone bring their kiddy pools, squirt guns, water balloons, sponges, buckets, etc. and organize a variety of water games and activities.

This winter I wrote my first badge for Frontier Girls, and I think it was a very good learning experience. Writing a badge was really fun, and having a badge with my name on it added to the Badge List made me feel like I had made an important contribution to Frontier Girls. I think that girls may be more interested in earning a badge written by someone their own age, not to mention it might give them the inspiration to write a badge of their own.

I decided to write the sailing badge because the summer before I had done a sailing camp and thought that maybe if I wrote a badge about sailing, it would lead other Frontier Girls to discover the fun involved in this sport.

I learned a lot while writing the sailing badge- I checked out lots of books from the library, researched online a bit, and also talked to my dad, who is an experienced sailor. Many of the requirements I included in this badge were about things I had only just discovered in my research.

I think that the next badge I want to write would be the Goats Badge, because I own several goats of my own and I think that a badge on them would be an opportunity for other girls to learn about these very interesting animals.

My mom helped me get a hold of most my research materials, but the person who helped me the most was my dad. He added on to or helped me write most of the requirements.

Writing a badge was very fun and interesting, and, now that I have started, I think that as long as I am in Frontier Girls I will always be writing them!

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Welcome to the Frontier Girls Blog

For first time readers of this blog, Frontier Girls is a merit badge based program for girls ages 5-17 that focuses on patriotism, traditional values, community service and a love of learning. This blog is designed to keep its readers up to date on what is happening with the organization as a whole, as well as highlights of what our troops are doing across the nation. For more information on the Frontier Girls program, visit our website at http://www.frontiergirls.com/